The Thousand and One Butterflies
by Megan
Summary: A snob, a goddess, a Fury, and Delirium.... Makes you feel kinda sorry for the mortals...


The Thousand and One Butterflies 

This is a story asking the question 'What if Delirium was a Goddess instead of one of the Endless'? Also, when I wrote this story, I wrote it before I had read any of the comic books about the furies (ie. Kindly Ones) so just ignore that. This is my first Sandman fic, but I've written two terrible Gargoyles fics as well. I won't even mention how bad they are. -Megan Auffart :c) 

It was 12:05 when Iris slapped the little girl. It was 12:06 when her father came over. 

"Why in God's name did you slap Stacy?!" The man asked. The little girl was beside him, Stacy, she supposed her name was. She couldn't see anyone else he could have been referring to. Not that it mattered. 

The man was about 6 feet tall and, at her guess, 400 pounds. The man's hand was about the size of her head. She guessed he was the impatient type. 

"She was distracting me." 

The man didn't know what to make of this. He'd expected an angry retort, or perhaps an embarrassed blush. Her cool, level voice distracted him. She'd known it would. It was her best feature. She watched as the color rose in his face to a dark pink and his breath rapidly increased. I should be careful, she told herself. He's apt to get violent. 

The little girl sniffled. "I just wanted to see what she was drawing." 

"You knocked over my drink and smudged the lines." Iris allowed her gaze to move downward toward the child. She still carried the box of crayons she had with her when she first came. A bright red mark was centered on her pudgy cheeks. It would be gone by morning. 

The father made a little noise in the back of his throat. One of Iris' old boyfriends from high school had done something like that when he found out she was sleeping with other men. His following reaction had been to grab a chair and smash it into her side. He'd apologized later for it, of course. He claimed he had just gotten carried away with the moment. She'd smiled a sweet smile and told him exactly what he could do with his apology. He hadn't paid the hospital bills. 

The growling continued in more harsher tones and Iris decided she'd try a little subtle rationalization. It'd all be a bunch of crap, of course, but if he calmed down enough he might not hurt her. Remembering her old boyfriend, she rubbed her side and frowned a little. Two of her ribs had been broken, 3 bruised. Yes, this man definitely reminded her of him. She clicked her tongue at the thought. She decided she didn't like him, much. 

Iris leaned down toward the little girl. "I'm sorry if I hurt your pretty face. I was simply upset and ventilated my rage on you. If you'd like, I'll take you to the doctor." 

"You bet you will." The man growled. 

Uh oh. He took her seriously. Her day was far too busy for a change in plans. She decided simply to cut him off then and there. She handed him twenty bucks. 

"Here. The redness will fade in a couple of hours. Take my money and buy her and yourself an ice cream. See if it'll sweeten your tempers." Oh dear, seems he didn't like that. 

"My girl was nearly bleeding and you give me twenty bucks!?" He tore the bill in two. Iris winced. She hated seeing money be wasted so irrationally. He was moving toward her. She'd better make a quick exit. 

"You have the nerve to strike my daughter, who was just curious and then tell me to sweeten my temper?!! I'll sweeten my temper all right! But not with ice cream!" He drew back his fist and made to punch her. Thinking quickly, she ducked down just as his hand made contact with the brick wall her chair was sitting against. "Owww!" He yowled. She grabbed her portfolio with her car keys inside and ran quickly to a nearby building. The man was coming fast in her direction. He must have seen her. Great. She mingled in with the crowd and somehow managed to get inside the door. Going to a nearby window, she quickly glanced outside. The man was looking for her in the crowd, but judging by his frantic eyes, he had no idea which direction she had gone. With an amused smile on her face, she saw the little girl standing by herself on the other side of the road. *What a protective father*, she smirked and turned to see where she was. 

It was a huge room with velvet curtains and a deep, sinking blue carpet. Wood paneling with bits of silver design inlaid on it made up the walls. The lighting was dim and shadowed. Just looking around made her feel tired. A clerk walked up to her. 

"Excuse me, ma'am. The gathering is in here." 

Taking her by the arm he led her in a room filled with large, comfortable looking armchairs. A podium was up on a small platform in the middle of the space, with the seats making a patterned circle around it. They were already half filled. Iris considered sitting somewhere in the middle, but decided to be adventurous and choose a seat almost directly in front of the podium. She oughta get a good view of the speaker, whoever he was. She hoped he was cute. Iris had a queer hatred of all people ugly and young that could only be explained through her actions. Her last husband had been ugly. She didn't know if she could stand spending the next hour or two watching some disgusting slob's idea of world peace or some crap like that. She really, really hoped the speaker was handsome. 

She was not disappointed. 

When he came up to the stage, a small sigh escaped the lips of all the females present, almost drowning out the crash of a cymbal in the background to announce his appearance. His black hair and muscular, olive face did well distract from all of life's little burdens. The suit he was wearing could have bought a small house, and his choice of accessories was limited, but expensive. A silver band rested on his middle-finger with a large emerald in the center. After a careful re-examination of the wearer, Iris assumed he wasn't married. And if he was, she'd kill the bride. She gave a speculative glance at the rest of the crowd as best she could and smiled when she realized she was (not be modest, but they were all in their forties) the hottest looking chick in the room. Or at least used to be. The moment she thought that, a young looking girl walked on stage, about twenty-two or twenty-three and, shall we say, 'well endowed'. 

She flipped her raven black hair off her shoulders in a way which would have made Miss Universe die of shame and gave the man a small, but somehow passionate kiss on the lips. Iris bit her lip and glared. 

"Ladies and Gentlemen", the girl breathed, as if she were trying to imitate one of those '1-900' phone 'entertainment' operators, "May I present to you my great and wise lord of Hell, Hades!" With that she gave a seductive smile and half-way ran off, giving the male half of the room an eyeful of 'Nature's Goodness'. 

Lord of Hell? What was that all about? Maybe he was a punk rocker... Well, a very handsome, well dressed punk rocker. Iris wasn't sure, but if he was, she'd be one of the first to be buying the album. And she'd thought him to be a business type.

"For all of you who are here from before, you require no explanation as to why I've shown myself. But to those of you who are new to this gathering of sorts' (With this he looked meaningfully at her, as if questioning why she'd dare shown up in the first place) 'I hope that I'll soon make myself clear." Hades, if that was his name, smiled at her and stepped off the podium and into the audience. Next to her. Nearly on top of her. It took all of her might to keep from jumping up and tackling him. 

Very smoothly, almost hypnotically, he moved his hand in front of her face. "My, one of Ade's..." he said to himself, startled. He noticed her sitting there looking at him. "Nothing up my sleeve..." He murmured and suddenly a full wine glass appeared in his hand, the liquid never spilling a drop. "Care to drink with me?" He asked her. 

"Gladly" She replied and lifted the glass to her lips. 

*** 

When Iris woke up she was alone in a small, dark, yet somehow dignified room. Her simple white shorts and tee-shirt had been replaced with a silky black dress which she was sure accented all the right places. She wondered idly if he had undressed her, but decided against it. Why would someone obviously so regal in appearance bother with her cosmetic appearance? Probably had one of his servants do it. She pouted to herself, wishing he would come. She was about to get up and search for a potential exit no matter who might be coming when she heard footsteps inside the room. "Close your eyes." A familiar voice murmured and suddenly a blinding light made her cry out in shock. "Ow!" She moaned and rubbed her throbbing eyes as she slowly began to regain her sight. There, standing impatiently, was the Miss Universe chick at the gathering. 

"Jesus, why didn't you warn me it'd be so bright?" 

"I told you to close your eyes. It isn't my fault some people just can't take orders." The girl replied tartly. 

Iris barely resisted the urge to slap this brat in the face like she did the last. She had a sinking feeling this one could hit back. One look at her nails said she'd lose a lot of blood while she was at it. 

"Who are you? And what am I doing here with you?" 

The girl laughed, looking even lovelier than Iris thought was possible. 

"I guess you could call me Li." 

"You guess?" 

The girl, Li, glared at her. "I have many names, just like Uncle." 

Just like Uncle... "You mean, Hades?" Iris asked. 

Li looked her over for a second and smiled, amused. "I've to see a girl yet who can not want Uncle. Tell me, do you seriously think you have a chance with him?" 

"Yes, with you out of the way." 

"Hah!" Her laugh, however scornful, sounded like the tinkling of silver bells and moonlight. "Why would Uncle ever fall for a mortal like you?" 

Mortal! "So you think you're a god, do you? A sniveling little brat like you who has nothing better to do then insult your betters!?" 

Li raised a solitary eyebrow and glanced at her. "Number one, I am a goddess. Not god. Goddess. Number two, I don't insult my betters because I don't have any betters except for Uncle. I am the goddess of the River Styx and teller of stories, niece of the great god Hades, lord of the underworld, and I will not tolerate some mortal scum like you insulting me and drooling after my Uncle!" 

"Then why are you talking to me in the first place?" Asked Iris, amazed that she had found someone with more pride than herself, no matter how insane she obviously was. 

"I..." 

At that moment, the half-closed door which Li had come through burst open and in ran the exact bodily double of Li with two exceptions. One, her hair constantly changed colors and shape, and two, she had one blue eye and one green, compared to Li's dark, penetrating ones. 

Her torn fishnet body suit under the rags she was wearing caught on the arm of the chair as she moved and tumbled her to the ground, where she fell happily on her butt and laughed at Li's obvious embarrassment. Getting back up again, she skipped over to Iris and stopped with her nose barely an inch away . 

"Do you have any peanut butter?" The girl asked her, fingering her outfit. 

"Um...sorry. Why do you want that?" Iris asked, as she watch Li glare into her double's untroubled eyes. The girl sniffed. 

"I need it to fix my dress." She said gesturing towards her rags. 

Li gave a sigh. "This is Delirium, my daughter." 

"She can't be your daughter!" Iris said haughtily. "She's the same age you are!" 

Delirium, who had never once taken her eyes off Iris, stopped blowing multicolored spit bubbles to give a small, wide-eyed smile. "I am?" 

"No you're not!" Li replied sharply. "You just look like me 'cause you stupidly decided you wanted to be like me! That's all!" She turned her steel glare on Iris. "If you want to get through this night retaining the same shape you're in now, I'd suggest that you shut up!" 

"Hardly." Iris replied in disgust, then gracefully sat down next to Li's daughter. "And what's your name?" She asked, doing a not-to-shabby impression of her third grade teacher. 

"Her name's Delirium, I told you!" Li snapped, obviously hating every minute of being in both the company of her daughter and the 'mortal'. "Guess what she's the goddess of?" She asked her, dryly. 

"She's just mad 'cause I'm more powerful than her," Del told her with a little conspirators grin, then blew a raspberry towards Li, which turned into the selfsame piece of fruit and struck the raging goddess in the forehead. Delirium giggled.

Normally, Iris didn't really like kids, but though Delirium acted like one, she still could insult Li and get away with it. 

"You are?" She asked. 

"Yeah," Del said, giggling as a silver fish appeared and began swimming around her head singing 'Inna Goda Divida'. "She's just a selfish river goddess. I'm the ruler of all anarchy and the happiness that's bred in chaos." Del pointed at Li with a small, sticky finger. A slimy green frog fell from nowhere onto Li's head, much to her distaste. "Li can't stand the fact that my father is the great Zeus himself and hers is just Pan, the god of goats and all things smelly." Li finally succeeded in detaching the frog from her hair and threw it at Del, which immediately transformed into a harmless butterfly that fluttered off into the breeze. 

Del burst into a fresh outburst of giggles which made Iris, much to her wonder, want to join in. There was just something about watching a potential enemy be embarrassed in front of your very eyes. Almost made you forget that you were sitting in the midst of two very unreliable goddesses. Did I just think that? She asked herself. And to her surprise, she found that she did believe Li enough to think that the two women weren't exactly human. Not what she'd call goddess material, though. Li walked up to her and snapped her fingers an inch away from Iris' face, not that dissimilar from the classic actions of inner city African- American females. "Are you ready to hear my story or aren't you?" The beautiful 'goddess' asked, her nose wrinkled in distaste at having to be near Iris. Or her daughter, Iris thought as Li glared. 

"Ready as I'll ever be." She replied. 

"Good." Li sat down on chair, which was the only piece of furniture in the room, leaving Iris and Delirium to sit on the floor in front of her, the latter doing so proudly. 

"Once, sometime in the early 20th century, lived an older woman named Ade, and her husband Andy. These two lived happy lives until one day they died together in a large fire." 

Delirium nodded sadly, and Iris watched with interest as ripe cherries grew out of her hair and fell to ground, exploding in a burst of red. Li didn't say anything during this, and Iris realized she was waiting for Delirium to continue on with the story. The last cherry broke open and spattered glitter all over the water-color stains on the wooden floor and Del turned her attention to the now silent story teller. 

"Do you want me to tell it?" 

Li sniffed. "Hades gave me orders to let you in on some of it." 

Del gave a smile which would have made Mona Lisa's look standard. "But I thought you didn't like me?" She asked Li innocently. 

"Just get on with it!"

"Okay, okay...So anyway, Me and Li never came down to the underworld much those days a long time ago. The mortal ghosts were becoming stronger by the minute with their cruel nasty thoughts and ideas. Every day there were fights amongst the staff of Hades and the shades. Really nasty ones. The staff always won, but lately it had been only by a thread. When Ade came down there with her hubby, she saw a wounded fury, one of the female tormenters of the damned spirits, lying helpless and chained next to a group of newly dead shades." Delirium paused. "I don't like the furies at all," She nodded solumely, "They're even meaner than Li." 

Li glared at her daughter. "Delirium, if you don't get on with the story I will make sure one of them visits you while you sleep." She growled. Del stuck out her tongue. 

"Anywho, the ghosts had stolen the fury's scorpion-tail whip and were going to use it on her, and hurt her! When Ade saw what they were going to do, she rushed over and tried her very very best to convince them to quit, but the shades rudely pushed her aside and began striking the poor Fury with a rage only a villain could possess. Ade screamed as she saw what was being done, and Andy, upon hearing her wail, rushed the man and knocked the weapon from his grasp. Ade ran over and picked up the weapon, and, without a moment's hesitation, handed it to the Fury. And, as they say, 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.' Pun intended." 

Li broke in, sticking her tongue out right back at her daughter. "With divine rage, the punisher of the damned sent the group of shades, save her two benefactors, to the land of Taurtarus, which you might call Hell. There they were clothed with flesh and..." Here Li broke off and glanced at Delirium, who was listening intently. "...well, you get the picture. At last her revenge sated, the fury, whose name was Jiang Wei, accompanied the pair to her lord and master, Hades, god of the dead. 

"Our master listened well as he heard the story Jiang Wei had to tell and smiled upon the two quiet shades with compassion that had never been before seen in the Land of the Dead. He told the two that he hadn't heard of such a noble act in his kingdom for a thousand years, and that he would reward them for their effort. 'Ask but any wish you so desire, and it'll be granted to you.' He said. 

"Ade glanced at Andy and a single thought went through their heads." 

Delirium looked sad and whispered simultaniously along with Li, "Children." 

Li continued. "You see, they had grown up without any babes to leave in the world, and that caused terrible sadness to the husband and wife. Cruel fate had left the loving couple sterile, so they had no children to live their lives in the future. Ade and Andy explained this to Hades, who looked upon them with more and more respect as their tale drew to a close. 

" 'You could have asked for a new life amongst the living, or power, or titles, but instead you asked for children, which bares more power than any of the above. Such a wise choice deserves to be rewarded." And with that he granted them many wonderful things. 

"Ade first was granted the ability to have as many children as she wanted quickly and painlessly. Secondly, Hades transplanted the essence of his God seed into Andy so that the children would be divine in nature. Thirdly, he granted them permission to live back up in the mortal world with all their wishes, and with that, he bid farewell. The sister of the fury Jiang Wei, whose name was Diabola, was told to accompany them on their trip to the mortal world. With that, the four set off, drawing the attention of every pathetic shade and spirit in the neither regions." 

Li suddenly stopped and blinked for a moment. Delirium broke in. "Poor little Ade and Andy must have had the worst luck in the world." She continued, frowning sadly as the little mice in her eye lashes began to weep petals of silver and gold. "The fury Diabola was nasty and jealous of all the nice things Uncle Hades gave them. She thought that she deserved them and decided on the way that the two 'sniveling mortals' had to be punished for their insolence in 'demanding' these things from her Lord. So she took out a spool of magic, invisible thread and spun it around the two, placing a curse on them. She made it so that every child Ade would give birth to would be born deformed. Poor, little Ade didn't know that and gave birth to many children. The first two, Amy and Antonio, twins, stopped growing by the time they were six. Ade wasn't tall herself, but the two barely reached up to her waste in height. Her third baby had a harelip, the fourth a huge birth mark that covered her face. This continued to her twelfth child, who was born lacking the proper number of fingers and toes, when Diabola decided to check in and see how things were doing." 

Li stepped in. "Twenty years had passed since the birth of Amy and Antonio, and the fury chuckled cruelly, thinking of all the pain they must of lived through. But, to her immediate anger, the first 7 children had lived happy and content with their own, loving families. The fury waited, and saw that every one of Ade's malformed progeny, despite the curse, had fallen in love, married, and had perfectly normal children. At this the wench screamed and cried and wailed a banshee's wail. She couldn't believe that it was possible the ugly could live happily ever after. But she stopped her caterwauling when she realized that, if the ugly ones were beautiful on the inside, then the beautiful could, in turn be ugly on the inside. She cackled and fled to the then pregnant Ade, and worked her magic on the unborn babe inside, making sure that when it was born, it would be beautiful and fair of face, but vile and black of heart. 

"Ade gave birth, to Andy's pride, an adorable girl-child. They took the thirteenth babe home and raised her well. She grew more graceful and lovely every day, but also more cruel. For example, one day her parents caught her torturing mice in the back yard, keeping them for days in clear, plastic boxes where the mice slowly died of dehydration and heat. They took her back and yelled at her, but that only made sure that she performed her foul deeds in secrecy, growing more and more evil as the years went by." 

Delirium blew a bubble which floated over to where Iris was sitting, and in it a picture formed. It was of a cat kept tied up by it's tail with a short, taunt rope. A small bowl of food was in front of it, but just out of the reach of the animal. "Every day, she'd take freshly roasted meat to the bowl. The scent drove it mad, and chewed off it's tail in angst to get to the food. She killed it before it could get there." Del blew another bubble, this one of a small little girl sitting solemnly on a bed. A very familiar looking little girl. "Eventually she took a mate, who she discarded soon afterwards, but not in time to avoid becoming pregnant. No one's really sure why she went and had it. An abortion was within her reach and if she'd wanted one, she would have got it. Perhaps she was so malicious that she had turned masochistic, and wanted to brutal towards herself as well by the pains of labor." 

Iris frowned. "But I thought you said..." 

Li raised an eyebrow. "If you wouldn't interupt, you would have known that gift of easy birth had visited Ade only, and, sadly, all of her children were suceptable. But as for if she actually punished herself, who knows? All we know is that the child was born and she treated it like dirt, but at the same time trained it to become as cruel and merciless as she. The babe learned well, and the mother discarded it and left it to the cold streets. The girl was picked up by an orphanage, and it was adopted soon after, for it had the full-blown beauty of it's mother. And shortly after that, Ade died, followed by Andy a day later, and they were invited into the glorious paradise of the Elesian Fields. But for the child, it grew in it's..." 

Iris interrupted. "Would you please stop calling the child 'it'!?" She asked, a pleading look in her eyes. 

Li looked at her, a strangely pleasant look in her eyes. "Why ever do you ask?" 

Iris looked at her desperately, silently begging her to not make her answer the question. 

Li gave a small, cold grin. She was enjoying seeing her squirm. "Why are you so concerned at how we talk about someone you don't even know?" She gave a mock show of sudden realization. "Or do you?" 

Iris looked down at her ankle, at the scar that had been there since she could remember, since the day she had played with Mommy's make-up. "She's me, isn't she?" Iris said to herself, coldly matter-of-factly. She sat there rubbing the offending spot unconsciously, staring into a memory world which only she could see. "I'm the grandchild of Ade." 

Li laughed, a whooping sound that was completely different from her earlier laughs. Clapping her hands, she earned a glare from Del, but ignored her, as usual. "Give the girl a cigar!" Li giggled and moved so she could stare at Iris directly in the face. "And do you know what? I forgot to mention part of the curse. Stupid me! You see, the fury saw that even though the thirteenth child was evil, she was enjoying it, so she placed yet another curse upon her. She said that every time that the girl, or any of her progeny would touch someone, the people they came in contact with would inherit a bit of evil, and also a bit of beauty to go along with it." She patted the shocked Iris on the head and gave a sickening wink. "And guess what?" She chortled violently, then grabbed Iris by the collar so that she couldn't move. "You've caused an outbreak of evil sooooo big, even I'm jealous! Every time someone touches one of the infected people, they get a bit of evil, however a lesser amount, inside them. And it goes on, and on, and on, and on, and on!" She crackled, thinking of all the buried pain Iris must be feeling. Delirium watched helplessly as Iris fled the room. 

"Why are you acting so mean?" She asked her mother angrily, "You were never this nasty before!" 

Li flashed her child a grin. "Because I am." She answered smugly. "It's what I do." 

"But she's upset and all you can do is laugh at her!" Del cried, angry at how Li was acting. 

Li suddenly sat up and grabbed Delirium by the hair. Startled, she let herself be dragged to a sitting position where Li gazed at her through cruel eyes Del had never seen before. "I used to have a job where I could do this all day, and I'd sing their sorrows and dance their demons over and over and over again." 

She was singing now, a high pitched, terrible sound which dissolved into laughter every second or two. "And now you..."she said the word 'you' with such distaste that Del shivered and two of the frogs she had singing in her hair shattered into white powder. "And now you are probably going to tell on me to Big Daddy Hades that I've gone and stolen another body, now aren't you?" She sighed and examined her fingernails for chips in the polish. "This body certainly is beautiful, but it is also very stupid. After all, the moment you say a fury's name, you invite her attention." She turned and glared at Del. "And you never want to invite a fury's attention! Ever!" She spat, seething with sudden hatred. Del realized that something bad was happening here. "You're Diabo..." She cut herself off, remembering the once-mother's words. The woman nodded, and made a gesture for her to go on. "And you stole into my mother's body when she said your name?" "Yep!" Once-Li sang out in triumph. "And before you ask, I didn't choose you because you don't have the right personality. You see, this person here..."She tapped at Li's head, "she has anger in her. Burning anger at everyone who's ever insulted her. You..."she pointed. "You don't have anything like that at all." Del felt like crying for a minute, then remembered something. She had power! More power than Li or Diabola or whoever. She turned and gave the Once-Li a small, sorta confused smile. "Wait, though, you're wrong. I'm usually the one that's wrong but you're wrong, this time. You see, dispite what you may of thought, I really like Li. You thought I didn't. You're wrong about a lot of things, actually. See, everyone has anger." She paused and gazed at the seething woman with an eerie innocence that made Diabola want to gag. Del opened her eyes very wide and wet her lips. 

" Do you wanna face mine?" And with that, she pushed a flood of power into Li, causing her to shake and convulse as the energy filled her in every pore. Her mouth dropped open and a dark howling came out and filled the room with the scent of ashes and death. Then it was gone as the last spec of power drained from Delirium's fingertips. 

"Ow." She heard someone say. 

"Li?" She asked, afraid that she might of done something bad to her system. "Are you okay?" 

"Fine." Li rasped. "Go find Iris. I have a bad feeling." 

"Are you..." 

"I'm fine!" She snapped. "Now go and make sure Iris is all right! Hades will kill me if she gets hurt." 

" Kay." Delirium got up, wobbled a bit, and somehow managed to stumble outside. 

"Iris!" She shouted and examined the crowd. She was too drained for a locating spell, and just about everyone in the entire world seemed to be on the street today. "Iris, where are you?" 

*** 

She sat quietly in the near empty restaurant table, hugging her legs and shaking. She didn't have her portfolio anymore, and she doubted she'd ever see it, or the keys again. She certainly wasn't going back there. She knew that if she did, she'd probably try to commit suicide or something. But then again, she thought, suicide might not be so bad. She sat there for a moment, suddenly aware of everyone one she'd touched, everyone her mother had touched; they'd all gone bad. She remembered the little girl. Stacy, her name was. Was she going to be evil also? She wondered. Was that little girl, that innocent little girl going to grow up cruel, hating everyone who got in her path and harming those who got in her way. "Like Mamma did me..." she whispered and rubbed her ankle, remembering her mother's face when she came in the door, and saw her there smearing lipstick on clumsily, blue eye shadow seemingly everywhere except on her lids, and took the scissors and... 

"Hey, Lady, wanna buy a calendar?" A voice asked her, startling her out of her day dream. A shoddy looking man stood in front of her, holding a greased up calendar with a small kitty on the cover. "Only three bucks." 

"No thank you." She whispered, unable to keep her voice from shaking. 

He leaned over to her, his torn jacket brushing her arm. "You sure? They're one of a kind. Very..." 

"Don't touch me!" She shrieked and scrambled out of the chair in terror that she had come in contact with him. People were looking over at her. Let them look, she thought as she watched the man give her the finger and stalk away. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye she saw a small, pink blur. Stacy, she thought and raced towards the little girl, now pausing for breath. 

"Stacy," She said, kneeling in front of the little girl, "I'm so sorry that I hit you. Please forgive me. I really didn't mean to hurt you. I didn't mean to hurt anyone, but I did and I know that I'll never make up for what I did to you. I'm so sorry." She finished, and gazed at her, pleading for some sort of forgiveness. The little girl stared at her for a moment, then, giving a cruel smile exactly like the one Li had given her, and spit in her face. 

"DADDY!!!!" She screamed, "SHE'S HERE!!!" 

Before Iris could do anything, a long board connected with Iris' neck, slamming her into the harsh brick wall of the building. The man and his daughter laughed and walked away, never caring to check if she was alive or not. 

"Iris!" She heard vaguely as Delirium came rushing up. Small bits of glitter poured from the goddess' mismatched eyes as she felt the poor mortal go limp in her hands. "You meanies!" She whispered angrily and gently closed Iris' eyes for the final time. She glared at the direction the two had gone, and tapped her slowly growing reserve of magic to turn herself invisible and followed the offending pair. 

They were at a hot-dog stand ordering some soft drinks. The old man gave the cups to the father and accepted the money, but at the same time, brushed his thumb. The man watched them go, then snorted and spit into cart where the meat was kept. He looked around to make sure no one saw, then continued his cleaning his wares. 

Del stood a moment and tried her best to think. The disease would continue spreading no matter what she tried. But, she thought, if I start a good disease, it'll make things good wherever there might be bad. So she sat down on the concrete and began to concentrate, but kept on messing up because the mortals kept on stepping on her. So she floated up to a window sill and sat down gracefully. She opened her hands and made in her mind a gorgeous, shimmering butterfly that dripped glitter as it flew. When she opened her eyes, it was there, in her hands. Taking a box of crayons from air she colored in its colorless wings with bright reds and electric blues, aristocrat purples and lion eye yellow. She sang a high-pitched song as she watched it fly down to where a stern business woman was walking briskly away from a pleading beggar. It alighted on her shoulder, and the woman suddenly burst into a smile and handed the homeless man her wallet. He leaped up and stared at her, confused, thinking that maybe this was a trick, and she wanted him in trouble or something, but then she touched his shoulder and he grinned and gave her a hug. Delirium giggled as she saw this and clapped her hands in joy. The butterfly fluttered away, landing on a person every time it got tired, and then flew some more. 

She got up, and went back to the building and made a thousand more butterflies with her mother and Uncle. Their shiny glitter got all over everything, of course, but this time even Uncle didn't care, and with her and Li's help, transported them all to major cities across the world. He made Diabola help too, and in the end punished her by making her keep track of all the butterflies so she'd see what good they'd do and learn. Sometimes Delirium helped also, and if you can, you can see them together, an ugly, swearing old hag stumbling alongside a wild, skipping girl as they follow the path of a butterfly. 

The End 


End file.
